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Question: What is the best training method?

Weldon Long; EGIA faculty member and NY Times Bestselling Author:

I think when it comes to training, it depends a lot on the subject matter. Obviously, we all have our expertise and specialize in different things.

Drew Cameron is very well known for his marketing, sales, and service tech expertise, while Gary Elekes is well known for his accounting knowledge.

I think the key metric that would determine what type of training is the best is, does it work? There are so many different training programs out there for contractors and the key to all of them is consistent application.

You’d bring Drew or Gary into your company, or use their online training resources, and actually do what they say to do on a consistent basis.

When it comes to sales or service technician training, I think the best programs are ones that utilize a lot of role-play. There’s just no substitute for role-playing in terms of sales training. For business development or financial structure, the types of things that Gary works with, role-play is less important.

Look for something simple that you can understand and implement on a consistent basis. If you show me a complicated sales process, I can show you a salesperson is isn’t using it. You need simple. You need effective!

To say which is the best training method would be impossible to say. What works well for another company might not work for another company. I’ve had success implementing my sales training at some companies and other companies, not so much.

It just depends on the personality of the people involved, the willingness of the management to reinforce the training on an ongoing basis, and consistency.

I think EGIA has a very powerful program because not only do we offer dozens of live trainings across the country, all of the in-person trainings are reinforced by video training online.

If you’re an owner or manager of a home services company, you might find an in-person training that works well but it’s not offered again for another year. How will you reinforce that training with your people for the rest of the year? You can’t!

With EGIA, you can send your people to it right away online. If you like the training, you can access the in-depth resources online to keep the content fresh in their minds.

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